Do you see yourself as a budding entrepreneur waiting for a push? Having trouble sleeping with world-changing ideas bubbling inside your brain lacking the support? Then you, friend, are in luck as you have stumbled upon the right place. In this article, we welcome you to the absolute wild and wacky domain of incubators where we will delve deep into what incubators are, the success stories that came out of them and what you can take away to propel your own story.
So, what’s an incubator, anyway?
Incubators are not as hard to understand as rocket science as many people misunderstand it to be. You might have heard of the word “incubator” as a controlled environment used for hatching eggs. Now although entrepreneurial incubators have nothing to do with hatching chicken eggs, the analogy is quite similar. A hatching incubator provides optimal parameters such as temperature, humidity and light to develop and eventually hatch an egg. In entrepreneurial incubators, on the other hand, the egg is your idea. These incubators help develop your idea through accommodation, mentorship and guidance to make it able to withstand the competitive domain of start-ups.
Think of incubators as a dojo where you have to karate-chop your way through blocks after blocks of market competitions. The dojo provides you with a master and all the necessary tools for you to be able to do what you are meant to do in the most optimal way. It also provides potential networking opportunities, a like-minded community and long-term guidance for your idea to thrive.
Now that we’ve got the basics down, let’s buckle up for some funky tales of incubator legends who took their passions to new heights.
Fables of success
Story 1: Ecolectro, the start-up that raised millions by going green.
Carbon pollution is everywhere. It’s from our cars, our industries, power generation, and even ourselves as we exhale as a growing population. The start-up Ecolectro addressed this issue by decarbonizing energy storage. It creates innovative polymers for energy storage applications. Kristina Hugar, Gabriel G. Rodrguez-Calero, and Sarah Nathan launched the firm in 2016 with the idea to shift energy storage from the traditional carbon-polluting process to a greener approach. Ecolectro was founded in the BioVenture eLab at Cornell University and has subsequently secured over $7 million in investment.
Story 2: SendGrid to the clouds!
SendGrid, which was created in 2009, is a cloud-based email delivery service. Techstars fostered the startup, which has now grown to become one of the world’s leading email delivery providers in a market dominated by tech giants like Google. Techstars is a business accelerator that helps early-stage firms with seed financing, coaching, and resources. So far, the incubator claims to have graduated 3715 start-ups with an average first raise of 1 million USD.
Story 3: Mobile to millions- the story of MoPub.
Crittercism is the industry pioneer in mobile app intelligence. Founded in 2011, it assists enterprises in improving, optimizing, and monetizing their mobile apps – and making happy users! Crittercism delivers a worldwide view of app diagnostics in real time for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, Hybrid, and HTML5 apps. Crittercism is now embedded in over 23,000 applications, resulting in 100 billion app launches each month for consumers in 120 countries across diverse sectors and use cases. It raised 30 million USD from Scale VP, InterWest, VMware & Accenture in 2014.
Story 4: The rise of Crittercism, the Mobile app performance management giant
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected devices controlled and monitored over the Internet. IoT products, with their wireless technology support, have the potential to transform various sectors such as urban planning, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, and retail.
However, the wireless ecosystem will impact emerging sectors such as autonomous vehicles and transportation systems. As such, we will see significant investments being made in smart traffic lights, highway systems, and advanced vehicle-to-roadside communications. These solutions are expected to transform logistics and expedite the development of long-distance transportation routes.
Story 5: From AngelPad to Uber: The incredible success story of Postmates
Postmates is a 2011 startup that provides on-demand delivery services. AngelPad fostered the startup, which has now garnered over $900 million in investment. Postmates operates in over 4,200 communities across the United States and has over 600,000 merchant relationships. Uber paid $2.65 billion for Postmates in 2020. Uber’s acquisition was part of the company’s goal to grow its food delivery operation.
Lessons to learn
- Dream big, start small: While lofty goals are important, breaking them down into realistic milestones makes the business journey more bearable and successful.
- Innovation wins: Innovation combined with incubators that address real-world problems can do wonders.
- Incubators to the rescue: Incubators can unlock doors you had no idea existed. So, instead of hiding your genius in the garage, locate an incubator and let them sprinkle you with startup stardust!
- Embrace mentorship: Successful entrepreneurs in incubators received crucial advice from experienced mentors who gave insights and guided them to success.
- Networking is a must: Networking and like-minded communities are valuable assets that an incubator can facilitate. Developing deep bonds with investors and mentors is a pivotal activity in incubation.
- Mind and heart: Ideas without passion are like engines without fuel. Execute your ideas with passion and perseverance.
- Criticism is guidance: Be receptive to suggestions and constructive criticism. Often they reveal potential mistakes left unchecked.
- The A-team: Have a strong team with complementary abilities eager to work hard and learn from their errors.
- Celebrate milestones: Recognizing and celebrating even minor wins along the way enhanced team morale and kept motivation high through difficult periods.
- Give back to the community: Giving back to the community by sponsoring other entrepreneurs and sharing expertise developed a spirit of camaraderie and goodwill.
Conclusion
In the year 2023 and beyond, disruptive technologies will continue to reshape the world as we know it. By investing in cutting-edge technologies, investors can stay ahead of the curve and potentially make huge profits from these disruptive innovations. While it’s not always easy to identify the next big thing, investors and entrepreneurs should thoroughly analyze the market and familiarize themselves with the latest disruptive technologies before making investments.
